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Rev. Elder Diane Fisher
(Email)
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MCC'S EASTERN EUROPE INITIATIVE
Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Serbia, and
Latvia
"Tearing down walls. Building up
hope."
2006 Eastern European Trip Blog
On May 1, 2006, the international
movement of Metropolitan Community Churches launched MCC'S Eastern
Europe Initiative.
It all began one year
ago. In May of 2005, worldwide attention was focused on Bucharest,
Romania. The President of Romania and the Mayor of Bucharest refused
parade permits to hold the first-ever Gay Pride March in Romania.
Local activists invited MCC's Rev. Elder Diane Fisher to provide on-site
support. On behalf of MCC, she met with activists. She held
training workshops and conducted scores of press conferences
and media interviews. She appeared on Romanian national TV and
radio, and in newspapers and magazines. Through MCC, she launched an
international campaign to bring public pressure on Romania's political
leaders. And -- within a week! -- the President of Romania and the Mayor
of Bucharest reversed course and granted parade permits. And hundreds of
proud, out LGBT Romanian's held that country's historic, first-ever
Pride March. (Read more)
View the Picture Gallery
NEW! View the Eastern Europe
Journey
Interactive Map!
Pride March 2006 -
Romania - June 3, 2006
Much good news today here in
Romania.
The right-wing extremist group that filed a lawsuit to stop
Bucharest's GayFest Pride March lost their case yesterday.
The Pride March is on for Saturday (today!) at 5 PM local time (10 AM
New York time, 7 AM Los Angeles time.) Interestingly, the court offered
the extremist group its own parade permit to express its views at a
different time and location -- not at all what they wanted.
The level of media coverage for MCC's work here is amazing -- and
amazing is an understatement. Diane Fisher has
been featured on all of the Romanian national TV networks and in the
national newspapers every single day for the past week, as well as in
the wider European press. Reporters follow her, quote
her -- and people in the streets recognize her. EuroNews Network has
covered her work extensively, and a reporter from the Agence
France-Presse (French Press Agency) is covering all of her activities.
On several days,full page stories have appeared in the
Romanian national newspapers about Diane's work and MCC's
ministry -- and Diane's partner, Judy, is also becoming well-known here,
even though she is not on-site: newspapers have run past photos
of Diane and Judi applying for their marriage license and of
their Massachusetts' wedding over and over and over.
Everywhere we've been, people tell Diane they have seen her on TV, read
her message in the papers, or heard her on Romanian radio.
It is media saturation on a level, a national level,
that we have not seen before with MCC. (read more)
The European Forum of
Lesbian and Gay Christian Groups Conference in Riga, Latvia - June 1,
2006
We were off, another
plane excursion and another airport, this time through Prague, where we
spent five hours. It was beautiful flying in
over the city, which is built around a winding river. You can see the roofs of the homes, red clay tiles which dot
the landscape like ladybugs on a tree.
During our wait in
the Prague airport, I
was dealing yet again, in another currency. I think that I am up to six now and they are all starting to
run together. I don’t envy Steve
Marlowe having to sort out my expense report.
Florin and I arrived
in Riga, late at
night. The trains and buses to our
conference location had stopped running, so we took a taxi.
The currency in Riga is the LAT
which costs more than a Euro, unusual for a former Soviet
country. Riga is already a member of the European Union and has seen the
financial implications of that reality. The
cost of living has increased much more quickly than the salaries. (read
more)
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Romanian Lesbians - May 24,
2006 (View
Pictures!)
A year ago at the time of Gay Pride in
Romania, there was no active
lesbian group. Since the march and the events associated with
GayFest 2005, there is a new spirit moving in Bucharest.
ACCEPT, the LGBT Human Rights, group has seen an increase in the number
of people using the service. One of the most hope filled outcomes
for the LGBT community has been the formation of a lesbian group in
Bucharest. I was lucky enough to
be asked to meet with the group at one of their weekly
meetings.
As I made my way into the café, a young woman approached and
asked me if I would like to join them. The café was filled
with young LGBT people, drinking coffee, beer or a soda. It was
early in the evening and already the space was full and there was smoke
hovering in the air, much like in an old black and white movie, where
smoking was still seen as chic. (Read more)
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Romanian Day Posting - May 17, 2006
From
Rev. Elder Diane Fisher -- MCC's Eastern Europe
Initiative
Romanian Day
As
I walk through the streets
Of Bucharest, the sun
is shining
I see smiling faces
around me
Opening up to the warmth of the sun
It seems idyllic
I walk down the steps to the
underpass,
To cross the street
I have to watch carefully as I go
The steps are missing portions
Like an ancient Roman ruin (Read
more)
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Day 8 - May 10, 2006
On-Site Report From Rev. Elder
Diane Fisher -- MCC's Eastern Europe Initiative
Dear Friends:
It has taken me a few days to process my
time in Moldova. The situation
in the capital city of Chisinau (pronounced Kiss-shi-no), was
a mixture of the old Soviet regime and the new feeling of more
freedom.
Florin Buhuceanu and I were picked up at the airport, outside of the
city, and driven through the rain to an enormous old hotel. The
hotel was about 15 stories high, gray and dark. It was steeped in
the feeling of age and there was a heaviness about it. We walked
through the door into a barely lit lobby, there were two armed guards
near the door. A phrase that Nancy Wilson had said when we first
went to Australia
together popped into my mind, "We're not in Kansas
anymore." (Read more)
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Days 3-6 - May 5-8,
2006
On-Site Report From Rev. Elder
Diane Fisher -- MCC's Eastern Europe Initiative
Moldova Imagine:
Imagine a country
Where armed guards
Are everywhere;
Where you are watched
Coming in and going out
Of your hotel.
Imagine a city where electric
Power comes and goes
At the whim of Russia, government
People of Chisinau suffer
Through times of oppression
For their defiance. (read
more)
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Day 2 - May 4, 2006
On-Site Report From Rev. Elder Diane Fisher -- MCC's
Eastern Europe Initiative
Yet another busy day!
I was interviewed today by the only
gay magazine in Bucharest and was able to talk about the importance
of human rights work and the church.
The reporter had lots of questions about
what we believe in Metropolitan Community Churches and how we work with
other faith traditions. There were so many genuine, thoughtful
questions! For example, is Christianity the only way? I
responded that I believe that God can manifest in many ways, but
that my experience of God and my faith and the faith
tradition of MCC is rooted in the teachings of Jesus
Christ.
Another media
question asked why MCC does justice work as a key part of
our ministry, and I responded... (read
more)
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DAY 1 - May 3,
2006
After a layover in London, where I
was in contact with the producer of an upcoming BBC documentary that
will include MCC leaders, I have arrived safely in
Bucharest. It is 3:15 AM here and I am having some
trouble getting my internal clock adjusted to the new time zone. On May 5, I
depart for Moldova with Florin Buhuceanu, an MCC leader here in Romania
and head of the human rights group ACCEPT.
The situation in Moldova will be
challenging. Both the mayor of the capital city and the president of the
country have have refused to authorize any Gay Pride activities. There is on-going debate by local activists
-- it appears that the community may be reluctant to take a similar
approach to the one we used so successfully in Bucharest last
year. My sense is that it may take yet
another couple of years.
Moldova is a former Soviet bloc nation; the society is undergoing major
transformation, but the fear level for
retribution remains
very high.
The reality in Moldova is that
LGBT people have been beaten, harassed and arrested in the recent past simply for
attending LGBT functions,. We are walking a line between working
to advance the rights of LGBT people here and, at the same time,
working to protect their safety. So we will work with the
community as they see fit, support them
as best we can, and respect whatever difficult decisions they must
make.
MCC has already
held public worship services in Moldova during past events...
(read
more)
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